Teen admits transgender activist targeted in attack
Jailed brothers facing charges of aggravated kidnapping, robbery.
A second suspect in an attack on an Austin transgender activist last week admitted to police that he targeted the victim because of her gender identity, according to court papers filed Monday.
Rayshad Deloach, 17, and his brother, Raymond Jr., 26, have both been accused of carjacking and mugging Stephanie Martinez, a transgender activist who testified at the state Capitol a day after the attack.
Both face aggravated kidnapping and robbery charges and were in the Travis County Jail on Monday, each with a combined bail set at $150,000.
“Rayshad admitted that he attacked Martinez because she was transgender,” police officers wrote in his arrest affidavit.
A spokeswoman for the Austin Police Department said the Travis County district attorney’s office would decide whether the case would be considered a hate crime. APD also declined an American-Statesman request to release photos of the suspects, saying the images would be used in additional photo lineups.
In his statement to police, Rayshad Deloach confirmed the details of the Thursday afternoon attack that Martinez relayed to the police and to the Statesman, including how he punched her several times in the face and picked up a log as if to use it to bash her in the head.
Martinez told police she first met Rayshad — who called him-
self “Jay” — in an online chat room, where he expressed an interest in learning more about transgender issues. The plan, she said, was to pick him up and go to a nearby restaurant to talk.
However, after spending a few minutes chatting in her car, Rayshad got out and said he would be right back, Martinez told police.
When he returned, his brother, Raymond, climbed into the back seat and told Martinez that he had a gun and she had to drive, she said.
They stopped at the end of a residential street in far Northwest Austin, where the men told Martinez to get out of the car, she told police.
They made her walk behind an apparently abandoned fourplex, and there they beat her before stealing her purse and running off, according to the affidavit.
In Rayshad’s initial account to police, he said he met Martinez through an online dating website and attacked her only after discovering she was transgender as they were “hooking up.”
However, that contradicted text messages on Martinez’s phone, which showed Martinez “communicating to Rayshad about being transgender numerous times prior to their meeting.”
Police pressed him on the inconsistency, and he eventually admitted targeting Martinez on the basis of her gender.
Just a day after the attack, Martinez testified before state lawmakers at the Capitol as they debated so-called bathroom bills, legislation that would restrict local governments and school districts from implementing transgender-friendly bathroom policies.
The legislation isamong the most contentious being debated during the special session.
“This bill is not about safety; this bill is not about bathrooms,” Martinez told a committee of state senators, who backed the legislation after hours of testimony that went largely against it. “This bill is about limiting my ability to navigate public life.”